Sunday, 20 January 2013

The Famine before the feast.

Being the girlfriend’s weekend off
and having to dog-sit till Monday morning, fishing activities were
minimal with just an introduction of bait spodded into the venue I’m
pre-baiting on Sunday.

Monday was spent completing part 3 of
my mini series the 'Pellet/Groundbait Lead' for Coarse Angling Today
whilst watching the snow and temperatures fall.

Tuesday I headed to the river for a
spot of chub fishing, yet with all my experience I should have known
it was going to be in a terrible state, running high, coloured and
cold. I tried two banker swims without any joy, so returned home,
took a few images for a feature before heading back to the pre-baited
lake, this time with my tackle. The temperature was just 2.5degrees
on arrival and even before darkness descended ice was forming on my
tackle. I have to say I wasn’t full of confidence, why? Well a few
years ago I remember spodding some bait out and noticed that on
retrieval loads of bubbles were left on the surface that took ages to
disappear. That night I caught absolutely nothing and it was during a
very prolific period. Well after spodding around fifteen loads out,
the swim was once again full of bubbles and come 7pm just one bleep
had come. If I had gone with my instincts then I wouldn’t have
fished the river or lake, yet I always work on the theory that if you
have a bait in the water then you 're in with a chance.

As much as I wanted to get out on
Wednesday I didn’t due to a meeting with my accountant, the weather
was also taking a drastic turn for the worse. Tight Lines called to
see if I was free to create a short film for the show, yet due to the
following two days booked for guiding I had to recline the offer.
Hopefully in the next couple of weeks I will be out with them though
trying to catch a species I have never caught before. In the end it
was a day catching up and doing jobs such as backing up images,
clearing the email and computer database, as well as beginning to
think of promoting guiding trips for later in the year. The day flew
past and a quick look at the lakes on route to collect the girlfriend
found them to be frozen. When I returned home I had to cancel not
only Thursday and Fridays guiding but also a days perch fishing on
Monday. Rarely have I ever known the weather to be so bad as normally
if its cold and the lakes are frozen then the rivers are bang on chub
form, but with the ground saturated, any rain or snow just sees them
rising rapidly and colouring up with cold water, a killer. I have to
admit it, apart from a spot of dace or roach fishing on small rivers
close by, and that wont even be very good, I feel for once almost
lost for options.

Wednesday night the temperature dropped
to a chilling -6 and although I thought about heading for the Loddon
with bread on Thursday morning, I knew it would be a waste of time so
I stayed at home, turned the heating up and compiled a couple of
articles for European magazines. Having had to cancel three days
guiding and missing out on a Tight Lines feature I know money will be
tight come the end of the month so sometimes you just have to look
elsewhere to get the pennies coming in. To be honest come the evening
I felt that I had managed to really get on top of things, so when the
weather turns for the better I can get out and make the most of it.

The snow started to fall Friday morning
so it was another day in the office, yet the tackle is by the front
door as if the roads allow I’m off to the river for a spot of chub
fishing Saturday morning. Leaving home at 8.30am I nearly didn’t
make it to the river as the road leading to it was a sheet of ice,
yet crawling at snail speed I eventually made the car park. Being the
first to tread the snow covered fields I knew the chub would be
feeding, yet it wasn’t as easy as expected, probably due to the
Goosesander .hunting the river. Two bites were forthcoming yet
although welcome they weren’t the monsters I hoped for. With no let
up in the weather, the next few weeks aren’t going to be easy.

Top Tip and lessons learnt.

Don’t ever think it’s too cold to
catch. As long as the river is running clear then chub will feed.
Bread is the best bait in such conditions. The set-up I use is
simple, just a tiny 10gram cage feeder running on 6lb line. This is
buffeted by two small float stops, which allow the length of hooklink
to be altered, and a barbless size 6 hook completes the rig. Bites
are usually soon after casting so hold the rod.

The lesson learnt this week is not to
rush to the river if we have had any rain or snow melt. In previous
winters when the ground hasn’t been saturated a day of light rain
hasn’t made to much difference yet this year and rain goes straight
into the river, raising the level, speeding and colouring it up and
reducing the temperature.